Hotpoint won’t refund me

Igab17

Hi,
I am insuranced through Domestic & General. In April I had my 5 year old fridge written off as it was unrepairable. I received a new fridge on 12th April the fridge didn’t last a day insulation had blown. All my new food spoilt. I complained and they compensated me £25 for the food. I then had to wait a week for collection and delivery of a new fridge. Fast forward to the 15th August replacement fridge stopped working. After waiting a week engineer came to inspect and the fan has stopped working. I told the engineer I would prefer for the fridge to go and I didn’t want it repaired due to all the inconvenience dating back to April. He said he would need to book the parts anyway and I can ring hotpoint and express my wishes. Rang hotpoint who said because parts have been ordered fridge is now in a repair state and I have to give them 28 days to repair. I have just found out the parts needed are not in stock till the 9th September add another week for the engineer will round it up to the week commencing 17th before repair is completed. I have expressed my wishes from the start I want the fridge gone I have been ignored by everyone right up to the CEO. They keep referring back to their policy that states unless a fridge has 3 or more repair it cant be refunded. I was under the assumption that if a fridge is under six months old you have to give the retailer one chance for a repair or replacement. I have accepted a replacement that now doesn’t work after 4 months so I am entitled to a refund or is there something I am missing. I would appreciate anyone’s advise as at this point as I have contacted trading standards who confirmed what I said and that if I don’t get a refund to take them to the small claims court. I have two young children and no fridge freezer, tomorrow will be two weeks to make it worse it’s the summer holiday. I can’t even count the amount of money I have wasted on food and the inconvenience this has caused. I could of spent £520 on a fridge that didn’t keep failing.

Carrot007

You are using your insurance. As such consumer rights do not apply. (to the goods).


You have not purchased a new fridge, your insurance gave you a new one. The 6 months therefore mean nothing (I am assuming your insurance policy had been going for more than 6 months). They are not a retailer.



So you are bound by the terms of your insurance, if you did not like them you could have looked for a better policy.


(Unless I have missed something in your wall of text!)

sheramber

Are you claiming through your warranty?

A claim under the Consumer Right Act should be made against the trader.

Who did you buy it from?

DCFC79

sheramber wrote: »

Are you claiming through your warranty?

A claim under the Consumer Right Act should be made against the trader.

Who did you buy it from?

OP had a policy with D&G so used them to replace the fridge.

bris

The fridge despite being brand new is for legal purposes 5 years old. You don't get a new warranty with a replacement so the terms of the warranty take precedence.


So no, you actually have a 5 and a half year old fridge.

Igab17

@carrott007 Once you make a claim and product gets written off old insurance is invalid as it’s a new product. So I am under hotpoint warranty’s as it’s within the 1st year. Domestic & General don’t play a part in this anymore.

Igab17

@bris. The fridge is not 5 years old. Insurance plans don’t just roll on. My old insurance plan no longer exists as I have been given a brand new item as previous fridge was unrepairable.

Igab17

@sheramber Fridge is from Hotpoint themselves.

pinkshoes

This is confusing.

So you had a fridge (A) that died after 5 years. You contacted your insurance and they replaced it with a brand new one (fridge that then died a week later and was replaced with fridge C that lasted a few months.

The old insurance plan may not exist, BUT it is them who provided the fridge from Hotpoint, so the contract is between them and Hotpoint.

I assume the insurance policy was new for old replacement?

Might be worth contacting the insurance to let them know their replacement has failed.

Igab17

Just an update. It’s been a month now and I’m still here with a broken fridge.
I last spoke to Hotpoint over the phone last Tuesday after a repair by a senior engineer failed to get the fridge in working order. I was told I would receive a call within 24/48 hours as I stated I didn’t want a third replacement and apparently that is all they deal with. I haven’t heard anything them so I have been communicating via resolver with Hotpoint CEO who are now asking for a receipt even though they delievered it without one. Unless I can prove this documention I will only be reimbursed £156. I would of assumed it would all be on their system as they are not going to deliver a fridge out of thin air. I have contacted Domestic & General who said it will take 5 days to access this information and then send it by post.
I don’t think this will be resolved for another two weeks.